Painter Sarah Zambiasi debuts at Galería Vermillion

By Henry Vermillion

“Dreams and Divinities” is the name of a recently published art book, but it would be an excellent title for the paintings of the fine Melbourne-born, San Miguel-based artist Sarah Zambiasi. Her new work will be featured at Galería Vermillion on Saturday, March 30, at a cocktail reception from 6 to 8 pm. The gallery is in the Plaza Colonial downtown; the interior passageway can be entered either from Canal 22, or from across the street from the entrance to Bellas Artes on Hernández Macías.

Sarah Zambiasi’s oil paintings, many quite small, are lush and meticulously detailed. The use of color is jewel-like and rich; the feeling is as though we’re seeing a gorgeous oriental carpet. But the images in the pictures, in contrast, are playful, inventive and fascinating. In “The Siren’s Garden,” a richly colored mermaid raises her arms in salute — or perhaps she is beckoning some off-stage friend or admirer. Set against a black background, she is surrounded by marvelous maroon and golden flowers.

Sarah has been moved and influenced by Aboriginal art, African and other tribal art and design. She had her first solo show in Australia in 1992. She has several pictures in “Dreams and Divinities,” the internationally distributed book mentioned above (the volume is now for sale in the bookshop of the Louvre in Paris). She is featured in a collective show, which opens in a few days in Toledo, Spain. The exhibit will later travel to Granada, Spain, and to Paris.

For the past several years in San Miguel, she has been mentored and sponsored by Toller Cranston. “Toller has been such a steadying influence. I owe a lot to him,” she said. Sarah Zambiasi’s work will remain at Galería Vermillion until April 29.